Dispensing systems

ABSTRACT

A non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck in the shape of a dissolvable halogen puck when the dissolvable halogen puck is in an undissolved state with the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck physically interchangeable with a dissolvable halogen puck when placed in a dispenser for normally holding only a set of halogen pucks to enable a single dispersant dispenser to be converted to a dual dispersant dispenser without changing the structure of the single dispersant dispenser by placing a dispenser within a dispenser wherein only one of the dispensers may be provided with adjustable water ports.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from provisional application Ser. No.61/795,549 filed Oct. 19, 2012.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

None

REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX

None

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The concept of cylindrical shapes such as disks is well recognized inthe art with the term puck often applied to products that have acylindrical shape with the height of the product less than the diameterof the product . One well-known cylindrical shape, which comprises adisk of hard rubber, is a hockey puck. Other articles, which also have acylindrical shape, are often referred to as pucks including halogenpucks such as chlorine pucks and bromine pucks, which are used tosanitize a body of water. Typically, the halogen pucks comprises a waterdissolvable halogen in solid form, which can be placed in a dispenserlocated in or in contact with a body of water such as a pool or a spa toprovide for a gradual release of the halogen into the water as the watercomes into contact with the outer surfaces of the halogen puck.Typically, the commercially available halogen pucks have a diameter ofabout 3 inches and a thickness that ranges from about 1 inch to about144 inches. The pucks may be placed in either an inline system or in afloating dispenser.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly the invention comprises a non-dissolvable immersiblestandalone-dispensing puck in the shape of a dissolvable halogen puckwhen the dissolvable halogen puck is in an undissolved state with thenon-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck physically interchangeablewith a dissolvable halogen puck when placed in a dispenser for normallyholding only a set of halogen pucks. The non-dissolvable immersibledispensing puck, which contains a dispersant, and the halogen puck canbe maintained in a dispersing condition when placed alongside each otherin a dispenser to convert a single dispersant dispenser to a dualdispersant dispenser where the level of halogen in a body of water canbe maintained at a lower level than if only the halogen puck were usedin the dispenser. The non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck allowsone to quickly convert a single dispensing dispenser to a dualdispensing dispenser without altering the structure of the dispenser byforming a dispenser within a dispenser.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a non-dissolvable immersible dispensingpuck;

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a halogen puck;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a floating disperser and a non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a floating disperser with thenon-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck and a set of halogen puckslocated therein;

FIG. 3A is a front view of the floating dispenser of FIG. 3 withadjustable water ports located in a first condition;

FIG. 3B is a front view of the floating dispenser of FIG. 3 with theadjustable water ports located in a second dispensing condition; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puckthat is externally securable to the floating dispenser.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example of a non-dissolvable,immersible, non-halogen dispensing puck 10 having a height h and adiametrical width W with the non-dissolvable, immersible, non-halogendispensing puck having a cylindrical chamber 13 therein with the chambercontaining a source of metal ions 14, which for example may be a batchof minerals that release metal ions. In operation, metal ions such assilver ions are released into the body of water as the water comes incontact with the source of metal ions i.e. the minerals 14 containedwithin the dispensing puck 10. The cylindrical housing 11 of puck 10comprises a non-water dissolvable cylindrical shell that includes aplurality of water ports 12 located therein for ingress and egress ofwater to chamber 13 to thereby release metal ions into the body of wateras the water contacts the minerals 14. Other sources of ions may becontained within housing 11 without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention.

Typically, housing 11 comprises a rigid, non-water dissolvable material,for example a polymer plastic, which maintains its shape during thedissipation of metal ions therefrom and having a structure that isunaffected by pool or spa water. In this example water ports 12 arelocated on the sides, top and bottom of the puck 10 although the portsmay be located on only the sides of the puck without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention. The purpose of the water ports 12 isto provide for egress and ingress of water into the interior chamber 13to bring the water into contact with the minerals 14 therein to therebyrelease metal ions into the body of water. Examples of metal ionssuitable for treating a water to reduce harmful organisms include silverions, copper ions or zinc ions. Although minerals have been describedherein it can be appreciated that other types of water treatmentmaterials may be incorporated into the standalone puck 10 that can beinserted into the dispensing chamber of another dispenser. Whileminerals may be retained within the puck 10 in some cases the waterports may be sized to permit particles to flow therethrough. In theexample shown housing 11 contains a single chamber 13, however, in somecases one may want to include two or more chambers within puck 10 toprovide a benefit of maintaining two or more different dispersants inseparate compartments within the puck 10. For example one may want toinclude dispersants such as one or more of the following silver, silverchloride, clarifiers, algaecides, algaestats, aluminum sulfate, coppersulfate or zinc within a compartment or compartments within the housing11. The form of the dispersant within the housing 11 may be granular,tabular or other types of solids. For example, suitable dispersants mayinclude dispersants such as granular or tabular DCDMH. In some cases onemay seek to replace a halogen puck with one or more dispenser puckswhere the dispenser pucks contain different dispersants. In someinstances the dispenser puck may occupy more than the space of a singlehalogen puck and in other cases the dispenser puck may occupy less spacethan a single halogen puck. Thus, the dispenser puck described hereinallows one to convert a halogen dispenser into a devices forsimultaneously delivery of two or more dispersants to a body of watereither through multiple compartments within the dispenser puck orthrough multiple dispenser pucks which may or may not have the sameshape or size as the halogen pucks as long as the dispenser pucks can befitted into the space normally occupied by the halogen puck in thedispenser. While the invention is ideally suitable for those floating ornon-floating dispensers where the halogen pucks are stacked in a face toface condition the invention may be used in those floating ornon-floating dispensers where the halogen is in a different shape than apuck. For example, in some cases the halogen within the floating ornon-floating dispenser may or may not have a cylindrical shape as wellas being located in a random or irregular arrangement within a chamberwithin the floating or non-floating dispenser.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the non-halogen dispensing puck 10and FIG. 1A shows a perspective view of a halogen puck 15 revealing thatboth pucks have the same shape. The non-halogen puck 10 shown in FIG. 1has a diameter W and a height h and the halogen puck shown in FIG. 1A,which has a top circular surface 15 a, a bottom circular surface 15 cand a cylindrical sidewall has a thickness designated by h₁ and diameterof the puck is designated by W₁ which generally are the same if notidentical dimensions for most commercially available halogen pucks. Afeature of the dispensing puck 11 is that the size and shape ofdispensing puck 10 is substantially the same as a commercially availablehalogen puck and thus is interchangeable with a halogen puck 15contained in a dispenser. Typically, the dispensers that receive thehalogen puck contain a cylindrical chamber that has a diameter slightlylarger than the halogen puck to allow halogen pucks to be freely stackedwithin the cylindrical chamber of the dispenser. A floating dispensermay have a cylindrical compartment for typically receiving 2 to 6halogen pucks although other dispensers may be able to accommodate moreor less halogen pucks. While the invention is described in regard tostacked pucks within a chamber in some cases the halogen pucks and thedispensing puck 10 may be held in a non-stacked condition in adispenser. The feature of interchangeably of the dispensing puck 10 witha halogen puck as described herein enables one to change a singledispersant dispensing device into a dispenser that can simultaneouslydeliver two or more dispersants into a body of water without having toalter or change the dispenser.

Typically, the solid halogen pucks are manufactured with a width ordiameter W of about 3 inches and thickness, which may range from 1 to 1¼ inches. The standardization of the size of halogen pucks, althoughwith variations, has lead to creation of pool or spa single dispersantdispensers having a cylindrical chambers where one can stack multiplehalogen pucks therein so that the halogen can be dispensed into the bodyof water over period of time. The single dispersant dispensers aregenerally oversized sufficiently so as to accommodate the variation indiametrical dimensions and height and width of the halogen pucks whichmay vary a ¼ inch or more from puck manufacture to puck manufacturer.Such single dispersant dispensing devices, while suitable for dispensinga halogen into a body of water such as a pool or spa are generally notsuitable for dispensing a second water treatment material into the bodyof water since the dispenser contains a single chamber which is notsuitable for holding or dispensing other materials into the body ofwater. While a dispenser with a single compartment for a halogen puck isshown it is envisioned that dispensers that have more than one halogencompartment may be used with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the non-dissolvable puck 10 of thepresent invention proximate a prior art conventional floating halogendispenser 20 which is used to dispenses a halogen into a body of wateras the dispenser floats in the body of water. Halogen dispenser 20contains an outer body 21 and a cap 22 with a finger grip 23 fortwistingly removing cover 22 from the dispenser so that the halogenpucks therein can be. replenished. Located on the bottom of dispenser 20is a water port adjustment member 32 that can be rotated to provide forgreater ingress or egress of water into water ports 31 in the floatingdispenser 21 thereby providing adjustable water ports.

FIG. 1 shows the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck 10 in theshape of a dissolvable halogen puck 15 (FIG. 1A) when the dissolvablehalogen puck 15 is in an undissolved state with the non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck 10 physically interchangeable with adissolvable halogen puck 15 when placed in a dispenser for normallyholding only a set of halogen pucks. As FIG. 1 shows the non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck 10 comprises a rigid sidewall 18 joining, arigid cylindrical bottom member 17 to a rigid cylindrical top member 11to form a closed container 10 having a dispersant compartment 13 thereinwith a source of metal ions 14 located in compartment 13. FIG. 1 showscontainer 10 having a plurality of water ports 12 of fixed area forwater to flow in and out of the mineral compartment 13 with a batch ofminerals 14 located in compartment 13. A feature of the invention isthat the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck 10 can be maintainedin a dispersing condition when placed alongside a halogen puck in thefloating dispenser of FIG. 2. While the water ports 12 are shown asfixed the water ports may also be adjustable without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the floating halogen dispenser 20 with thecover removed to reveal an annular flotation member 28 for supportingthe dispenser 20 and the contents with at least a portion of thedispenser 20 located above a water air interface, i.e. the water line 9.Dispenser 20 includes a central halogen chamber 25 for receiving andholding four halogen pucks therein with the lower base of dispenser 20including a set of adjustable openings 31 or water ports to control theamount of water coming into contact with the halogen in chamber 25 andconsequently controlling the rate of release of the halogen into thebody of water.

In the example of FIG. 3 the floating halogen dispenser 20 has beenconverted to a multi water treatment dispenser through the placement ofa non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck 10 in the chamber 25together with the placement of three similar shaped water dissolvablehalogen pucks 28. The halogen pucks are stacked in a face-to-facecondition on top of the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck 10with the top cylindrical surface 11 forming a separator between thehalogen pucks 29 and the dispersant within the non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck 10.

The conversion of the floating halogen dispenser 20 that contains only asingle halogen dispersant into a floating dispenser that contains twodifferent water treatment materials allows one to reduce the level ofhalogen in the body of water by providing a second water treatmentmaterial to supplement the first water treatment material without havingto alter the structure of the floating dispenser or obtain a newdispenser. Consequently, the invention herein allows one to obtain thebenefit of the combination of two biocides such as a halogen and asource of metal ions, which can reduce the need for a high halogen levelthat is required if only a single halogen is used as a sanitizer.Typically, systems such as in inline systems, which dispense twodispersants, are known to have dispensers that contain a separatechamber for a halogen and a separate chamber for a source of metal ionswhereas the invention described herein uses only a single dispersantchamber to dispenser both dispersants.

In the present example the open area of adjustable water ports 31 at thebottom of floating dispenser 20 can be adjusted to limit the amount ofhalogen that is released into the body of water by rotation of sleeve32, which is rotationally supported by member 35, about housing 20.While the nature of most floating dispensers is that they do not provideprecise control of the halogen they do allow one to decrease or increasethe amount of halogen delivered to the body of water by closing oropening the number of water ports 31 that are visible through sleeveopenings 32 a. Sleeve 32 is rotationally supported by housing 20,typically through a pivot pin such as member 32. In this example thenumber of openings 32 a can be aligned with respect to ports 31 inhousing sidewall 20 to control the ingress and egress of water into thechamber within the dispenser 20.

Although the flow area access to the halogen can be limited to therebyreduce the level of halogen in the body of water the level of metal ionsreleased from the non-dissolvable puck 10 can remain relative constantas long as water is present in the chamber in the puck 10. Thus, in theexample shown a conventional halogen dispenser 20 can be converted froma single biocide dispenser to a two biocide dispenser by placing a botha dissolvable halogen puck 29 and a non-dissolvable immersibledispensing puck 10 containing a dispersant, such as a source of metalions, into the chamber 25 and reducing the flow area of the water ports31 to lower the level of the first biocide. By lowering the level of thefirst biocide, in this case the halogen, and introducing a secondbiocide the body of water can be maintained in condition for humanimmersion without having the odoriferous presence of a high level ofhalogen that can accompany dispensers that rely on using only a halogento sanitize a body of water such as a pool or spa.

A feature of the invention is that sufficient minerals can be placed inthe nondissolvable puck 10 to supplement the halogen which can increasethe period that the body of water can be maintained in the proper statesince the minerals contained in puck 10 can provide metal ions forsanitizing the body of water for a period that is longer than the normaldispensing life of halogen pucks located in a floating dispenser. Thuswithout increasing the capacity of the dispenser to hold more pucks onecan increase the dispensing life of a dispenser by using both halogenpucks and a source of metal ions. The same dispenser can provide alonger period of effective sanitization in a body of water then the samedispenser containing halogen pucks in spite of the fact one of thehalogen pucks has been replaced with the mineral puck. Thus, a decreasein the rate of halogen released into the body of water can be used tolengthen the effective dispensing life of the dispenser since thebiocide dispersant from the puck 10 supplements the halogen sanitizationof the body of water. While results may vary with different dispensersone may able to lengthen the period that an effective amount of halogenis present in the dispenser from days to weeks when the halogen biocideis supplemented by a second biocide. Consequently, one lengthens thesanitizing life of the dispenser even though one of the halogen pucksmay be replaced with a non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puckcontaining a source of metal ions. Thus reducing the consumers need toreplenish the biocides in the floating. dispenser 20.

As less halogen is required when a supplemental biocide is used, such asa source of metal ions, the open area of the water ports of dispenserports 31 can be reduced by rotating shutter 32 to lessen the area forflow therethrough to thereby lessen the rate that water comes intocontact with the halogen. In practice the flow thorough area of theports in the non-dissolvable puck may be coordinated with the flowthrough area of the openings into the halogen chamber 25 so that underthe normal dispensing conditions the halogen and the metal ions create abalance that maintains the body of water free of harmful organisms whileat the same time maintains the halogen at levels which are less than ifthe halogen was used as the sole sanitizing agent to maintain the bodyof water in a sanitized condition for human immersion or recreationaluse.

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of cylindrical halogen dispenser 20 havinga single dispersant chamber 25 for normally delivering a singledispersant with the dispenser comprising a housing 20 a having acylindrical halogen chamber 25, which normally holds a plurality ofhalogen pucks 29. In the example of FIG. 3 a non-dissolvable immersibledispensing puck 10 having an interchangeable shape with a halogen puck29 has been placed in halogen chamber 25 and occupies the space, whichwould normally contain an additional halogen puck. FIG. 3 shows thedispenser 20 contains a non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck 10and a plurality of halogen pucks, which in this case is 3, forsimultaneously dispensing dispersants from both the non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck 10 and the halogen pucks. In the exampleshown the mineral puck 10 retains its shape while the halogen pucks 29change their shape as they are dissipated into the body of water.

FIG. 4 shows another example of a method and apparatus for converting asingle halogen dispenser into a dual dispenser with the halogendispenser 40 having a cap 41 for insertion of a halogen puck therein.The dispenser includes an upper body 42 with a flotation member therein(not shown) and a frusto conical wall 43 that connects to the base 44that includes a set of ports 45 and a rotatable sleeve 44 to permitingress and egress of water into the halogen pucks that are located inthe dispenser 40. In this example, the non-dissolvable immersible puck46, which contains a source of metal ions, has been fitted with a set ofaxially extending elongated resilient strips 47 that extend around theperiphery of the puck 46. Each of the strips 48 include a lip 48 forengaging a feature of the dispenser 40 to enable the puck 46 to bemounted externally to the halogen chamber in the dispenser 40. A featureof this example is that the working life of the dispenser can beextended in two ways. The first is that the use of the external puck 10does not occupy any space in the internal halogen chamber and thus doesnot affect the normal life of the halogen even if the rate of halogendissipation was kept constant. The second is that because the level ofhalogen can be reduced the dispenser has a longer life. Consequently,through the external attachment of the second biocide dispenser to thehalogen dispenser one can further increase the time between the additionof halogen to the dispenser 40. In the event the weight of the extraexternal mineral puck 46 causes the dispenser 40 to sink the dispenserwill automatically surface once the halogen pucks begin to dissipate.Thus, a feature of the invention is that in some cases one can actuallyadd the dispensing puck 10 to the exterior of a floating dispenser andnot replace the internal space for the halogen pucks. In the event theexternal puck 10 causes the floating dispenser to sink, the performanceof the floating dispenser would be unaffected since the floatingdispenser will automatically surface once the halogen pucks arepartially consumed.

An additional feature of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 3A andFIG. 3B which shows the sanitization setting on the floating dispenserin FIG. 3B has a larger open area 31 than the open area 31 of FIG. 3A.Typically, the setting as shown in FIG. 3B would be a setting where thewater ports have more open area and would used when only halogen inpresent in the floating dispenser and the setting shown in FIG. 3A isthe setting used when the floating dispensers contains both a halogenpuck 29 and a non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck 10 since thewater port area 31 has less open area than shown in FIG. 3B.

FIG. 3 also illustrates the method of converting a floating dispenser 20normally having only a single dispersant chamber 25 and a singledispersant sanitizing mode to a dual dispersant sanitizing mode withoutaltering the structure of the floating dispenser and at the same timerequiring less halogen to maintain a body of water in a sanitizedcondition by placing both a halogen puck and a nondissolvable mineralpuck 10 containing a source of metal ions in the single dispersantchamber 25. FIG. 3 shows that one stacks a plurality of waterdissolvable halogen pucks 29 and the nondissolvable mineral puck 10 ontop of each other and in a face-to-face condition in the single halogendispersant chamber 25 with the nondissolvable mineral puck 10 having aninterchangeable shape with each of the plurality of water dissolvablehalogen pucks 29. Once the sanitization pucks 10 and 29 are placed inthe halogen chamber 25 one selects a dual dispersant water portsanitizing setting, which has lesser area of water ports than in thesingle dispersant mode, such as shown in FIG. 3A, for sanitizing a bodyof water with at least two dispersants. The dual sanitizing water portsetting on the floating dispensers has less open port area for egressand egress of water therethrough than a single dispersant water portwhere the sanitizing setting is for a stack of only water dissolvablehalogen pucks therein. FIG. 3B illustrates the large area of open waterports 31 when the floating dispenser is in only the halogen-dispensingmode.

Once the floating dispenser 20 has been properly set one places thedispenser 20 with the nondissolvable mineral puck 10 and the waterdissolvable halogen pucks 29 in the body of water to bring thenondissolvable mineral puck 10 and the water dissolvable halogen pucks29 into a water release condition for simultaneously releasing bothmetal ions and a halogen through water port 31 of the floating dispenser20 where the water port 31 is located below a water line 9 to therebymaintain the body of water in a halogen and metal ion sanitizedcondition through the use of both halogen pucks 29 and a mineral puck10.

Thus, with the use of both halogen pucks 29 and the non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck 10 one can decrease the halogen level in apool or spa having a floating halogen dispenser through manipulation oradjustment of the open area of water ports 31. Thus, a needed level ofhalogen can be reduced when both the halogen 29 and the dispensing puck10 are used to maintain the pool or spa in sanitized condition for humanimmersion. For example when halogen is used alone a level of halogen inexcess of 2 ppm in the pool or spa may be necessary but when used incombination with a mineral puck the level of halogen such as chlorinecan be less than 2 ppm.

To effect the change from a single dispersant to a dual dispersantdispenser one can determine a first water port setting of the floatingdispenser 20 that maintains a pool or spa in a safe condition for humancontact over a first sanitation period when only a set of halogen pucksare located in the floating dispenser. One places at least one mineralpuck 10 in a halogen chamber 25 of the floating halogen as shown in FIG.3 wherein the weight of the mineral puck 10 is equal or less than theweight the halogen puck 29. Next one can convert the dispenser from asingle dispersing mode to a dual dispersing mode by placing a pluralityof halogen pucks 29 in a halogen chamber 25 (see FIG. 3) in the floatingdispenser 40. Next, one reduces the water port setting from the firstwater port setting (FIG. 3B) to reduce the halogen level to a normallyunsafe level (FIG. 3A) if only a halogen were used alone but to a levelthat sanitizes the water when used in conjunction with minerals fromdispensing puck 10 . Next, one places the floating dispenser in the poolor spa (not shown) to maintain the pool or spa in a sanitized conditionthrough dispersion of both a halogen and a mineral from the floatinghalogen dispenser 20.

A benefit of the method of using two dispersants for sanitizing a bodyof water is that the least two dispersants can provide a longersanitizing period then if only halogen pucks 29 were used even though atleast one of the halogen pucks in the floating dispenser 20 may havebeen replaced by the nondissolvable cylindrical mineral puck 10 (FIG.3).

For example, one can decrease the halogen content in a pool or spahaving a floating halogen dispenser 20 through the adjustable waterports 31. When the halogen pucks are used alone one normally maintainsthe pool or spa in a sanitized condition for human immersion solelythrough halogen dispersion from a set of halogen pucks in the halogendispenser by maintaining a level of halogen in excess of 2 ppm in thepool or spa if the halogen is chlorine. To convert from a singledispersant dispensing mode to a dual dispensing move one may determine afirst water port setting of the floating dispenser that maintains a poolor spa in a safe condition for human contact over a first sanitationperiod when only the set of halogen pucks are located in the floatingdispenser in FIG. 3B. Next, one places at least one mineral puck 10 in ahalogen chamber 25 of the floating dispenser 20 wherein the weight ofthe mineral puck 10 is preferably equal or less than the weight of ahalogen puck 29. FIG. 3 shows one having placed a plurality of halogenpucks 29 in a halogen chamber 25 in the floating dispenser. Next onereduces the water port setting from the first water port setting (asshown in FIG. 3B) to the second water port setting (as shown in FIG. 3A)to reduce the halogen level to a normally unsafe level if only a halogenwere used alone but to a lower halogen level that sanitizes the waterwhen the halogen is used in conjunction with a dispensing device such asthe mineral puck 10. For example, less than 2 ppm of halogen if thehalogen is chlorine although other levels of halogen may be selectedbased on water conditions as well as the type of halogen selected. Byplacing the floating dispenser 20 in the pool or spa one can maintainthe pool or spa in a sanitized condition through dispersion of both ahalogen and a mineral from the floating halogen dispenser 20. The methodof replacing at least one of the halogen pucks, which for example may bea chorine or a bromine puck, with a non-dissolvable immersibledispensing puck 10 in the shape of a dissolvable halogen puck 29 to forma dispenser within a dispenser where only one of the dispenser hasadjustable water ports can be used with other types of dispensersincluding non-floating dispensers without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention.

The non-dissolvable dispenser puck has been described herein as having ahousing with a cylindrical shape and a single compartment therein,however, it is envisioned that the housing may have other shapesincluding those shapes, which may or may not mimic a halogen dispersant.For example, housing shapes other than cylindrical may be used as longas the housing has a shape and size such that the housing can be placedin a space normally occupied by a halogen puck or pucks in a dispenser.The term puck has been used herein to describe both the halogendispersant and a container for holding a further dispersant that can beplaced into a chamber of a dispenser that normally holds only a halogen.The halogen puck may take a variety of shapes or sizes but as usedherein the halogen puck is a solid that dissipates into a body of waterwhen placed in contact with a body of water, which may include bodies ofwater besides pools and spas. While the use of a mineral has beendescribed as a preferred dispersant for placement in the dispensing puckother non-halogen dispersants may be used in conjunction with thehalogen without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Similarly, the shape and size of the . halogen puck may not be the sameas the shape or size of the non-dissolvable puck that holds the secondbiocide and the pucks may or may not be stacked in the dispersantchamber of the halogen dispenser.

A further feature of the invention is that the non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck can take advantage of different dispersantrates to maintain the proper level of different dispersants within abody of water. Thus, dispenser puck 10, which is a standalone dispenser,includes a set of water ports 12 for water access to a dispersant, suchas minerals, located within the non-dissolvable immersible dispensingpuck and the control of the adjustable water port of the dispenser 20for halogen dispersal is independent of a control of a dispersant fromthe non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck 10 as long as theadjustable water ports 31 are maintained in an open condition to permitwater access to the dispersants within the dispenser puck 10.

I claim:
 1. A non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck in the shape ofa dissolvable halogen puck when the dissolvable halogen puck is in anundissolved state with the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puckphysically interchangeable with the dissolvable halogen puck when placedin a dispenser for normally holding only a set of halogen pucks with thenon-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck comprising: a top member; abottom member; a sidewall joining said side top member to side bottommember to form a closed container having a mineral compartment therein,said container having a plurality of water ports for water to flow inand out of said mineral compartment; and a mineral located in saidmineral compartment whereby the non-dissolvable immersible dispensingpuck can be maintained in a dispersing condition when placed . alongsidea halogen puck.
 2. The non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck ofclaim 1 wherein the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck has acylindrical shape and a plurality of water ports having a fixed opening.3. The non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck of claim 1 wherein theplurality of water ports are located in said top member, said bottommember and said sidewall.
 4. The non-dissolvable immersible dispensingpuck of claim 1 wherein the top member the bottom member and thesidewall are fixedly joined to each other to form a rigid puck forsupporting a stack of halogen pucks thereon.
 5. The non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck of claim 1 wherein the mineral compartmentcontains one or more of silver, silver chloride, clarifiers, algaecides,algaestats, aluminum sulfate, copper sulfate or zinc.
 6. Thenon-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck of claim 1 wherein a heightof the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck is less than adiameter of the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck and thediameter of the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck is about 3inches.
 7. The non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck of claim 5wherein the plurality of water ports comprises openings of a fixed sizewhich are sufficiently large to permit water flow therethrough butsufficiently small to retain a batch of minerals within the mineralcompartment.
 8. The non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck of claim1 including a connection member therein for externally securing thenon-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck to a floating halogendispenser.
 9. The non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck of claim 8wherein the connection member comprise a set of axially extendingresilient ribs for engagement with a feature of the floating halogendispenser.
 10. The non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck of claim 8wherein the top member, the bottom member and the cylindrical sidemember comprise a non-dissolvable polymer plastic.
 11. Thenon-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck of claim 1 wherein a weightof the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck and the contentsthereof is less than the weight of the dissolvable halogen puck in anundissolved state.
 12. The non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck ofclaim 1 wherein the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck comprisesa rigid one-piece housing for supporting a plurality of halogen pucksthere above with a portion of the non-dissolvable immersible dispensingpuck separating the halogen puck from a dispersant within thenon-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck.
 13. A halogen dispenser fornormally delivering a single dispersant comprising: a housing having asingle halogen chamber for normally holding a plurality of halogen pucksin either a stacked or non-stacked condition; a plurality of halogenpucks located in the halogen chamber; and a non-dissolvable immersibledispensing puck located in the halogen chamber with said non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck and said plurality of halogen puckssimultaneously dispensing a dispersant from the non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck and a halogen from the halogen puck wherebythe halogen puck changes its shape as it dissolves while thenon-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck retains its shape whilecontinuing to dispense the dispersant therefrom.
 14. The halogendispenser of claim 13 comprising a floating dispenser wherein thehalogen puck and the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck arelocated in a stacked relationship within the halogen chamber in thefloating dispenser and the dispenser includes an adjustable water portfor limiting water access to the halogen chamber therein to control alevel of halogen in a body of water.
 15. The halogen dispenser of claim14 wherein each of the water dissolvable halogen pucks of the pluralityof water dissolvable halogen pucks have a top surface and a bottomsurface; and the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck contains awater treatment material with the non-dissolvable immersible dispensingpuck having a top surface and a bottom surface for stacking in aface-to-face condition with either a top surface or a bottom surface ofat least one of the plurality of water dissolvable halogen pucks. 16.The halogen dispenser of claim 14 wherein the non-dissolvable immersibledispensing puck is a standalone dispenser that includes a set of waterports for water access to a batch of minerals located within thenon-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck and a control of theadjustable water port of the dispenser is independent of a control of adispersant from the non-dissolvable immersible dispensing puck as longas the adjustable water ports are maintained in an open condition. 17.The halogen dispenser of claim 15 including at least one non-dissolvableimmersible dispensing puck and at least a plurality of dissolvable wateractiveable pucks wherein the plurality of dissolvable water activeablepucks is in excess of the at least one non-dissolvable immersibledispensing puck.
 18. The method of converting a floating dispenserhaving only a single dispersant chamber and a single dispersantsanitizing mode to a dual dispersant sanitizing mode that requires lesshalogen to maintain a body of water in a sanitized condition withoutaltering the structure of the dispenser comprising: placing a standalonenondissolvable puck containing a source of ions in the single dispersantchamber of a first dispenser to form a second dispenser within the firstdispenser; and placing a plurality of water dissolvable halogen puckswithin the dispersant chamber of the first dispenser.
 19. The method ofclaim 18 wherein the step of forming a second dispenser within the firstdispenser where only one of the dispensers has adjustable water ports.20. The method of claim 18 including stacking a plurality of waterdissolvable halogen pucks and the nondissolvable puck on top of eachother and in a face-to-face condition in the single dispersant chamberwith the nondissolvable puck having an interchangeable shape with eachof the plurality of water dissolvable halogen pucks;
 21. The method ofclaim 18 including the step of selecting a dual dispersant water portsanitizing setting on the floating dispenser for sanitizing a body ofwater with at least two dispersants where the dual sanitizing water portsetting on the floating dispensers has less open port area for egressand egress of water therethrough than a single dispersant water portsanitizing setting having water dissolvable halogen pucks therein whenthe water dissolvable halogen pucks are used alone to maintain the bodyof water in a halogen sanitized condition; and placing the dispenserwith the nondissolvable puck and the water dissolvable halogen pucks inthe body of water to bring the nondissolvable puck and the waterdissolvable halogen pucks into a water release condition forsimultaneously releasing both a metal ion and a halogen through a waterport of the floating dispenser located below a water line to therebymaintain the body of water in a halogen and metal ion sanitizedcondition.
 22. The method of claim 18 including stacking at least threewater dissolvable halogen pucks on top of the nondissolvable puck andthe ingress and egress of water in nondissolvable puck occurs through aset of water ports of fixed size in a rigid sidewall of thenondissolvable puck.
 23. The method of claim 20 wherein a water portsanitizing setting on the floating dispenser for sanitizing a body ofwater with at least two dispersants provides a longer sanitizing watercondition than a halogen only sanitized condition even though at leastone of the halogen pucks in the floating dispenser may have beenreplaced by the nondissolvable puck.
 24. The method of decreasing thehalogen content in a pool or spa having a floating halogen dispenserwith adjustable water ports where the halogen alone normally maintainsthe pool or spa in sanitized condition for human immersion solelythrough halogen dispersion from a set of halogen pucks in the halogendispenser which maintain a level of halogen in excess of 1 ppm in thepool or 2 ppm in the spa when the halogen is chlorine comprising:determining a first water port setting of the floating dispenser thatmaintains a pool or spa in a safe condition for human contact over afirst sanitation period when only . the set of halogen pucks are locatedin the floating dispenser; placing at least one mineral puck in ahalogen chamber of the floating dispenser wherein the weight of themineral puck is equal or less than the weight of a halogen puck; placinga plurality of halogen pucks in a halogen chamber in the floatingdispenser to form a dispenser within a dispenser; reducing the waterport setting from the first water port setting to reduce the halogenlevel to a normally unsafe level if only a halogen were used but to alevel that sanitizes the water when used in conjunction with a mineralin the mineral puck; and placing the floating dispenser in the pool orspa to maintain the pool or spa in a sanitized condition throughdispersion of both the halogen and the mineral from the floating halogendispenser.
 25. The method of claim 21 wherein the level of halogen inthe pool or spa is maintained at least 2 ppm when the halogen ischlorine through a water port adjustment on the dispenser.
 26. Themethod of claim 21 wherein the placement of the mineral puck in thefloating dispenser together with the plurality of halogen puckslengthens the sanitizing period of the floating dispenser and theplurality of halogen pucks placed in the floating dispenser are eitherchlorine or bromine pucks.